Council approves work on 22nd Ave.

Banner/HDR image: This recommendation from Banner Associates and HDR Engineering presented in February 2018 shows plans to widen 22nd Avenue in Brookings, the first phase from Minnesota to Eastbrook Drives.

By: Jodelle Greiner, The Brookings Register - Updated: 1 week ago

Posted Mar 14, 2019

Construction will widen roadway, replace utilities and lighting for $2.8M

BROOKINGS – It’s still winter, but the Brookings City Council is making plans for summer road construction by approving a bid Tuesday for work on 22nd Avenue between Minnesota Drive and Eastbrook Drive.

The council approved a bid by Timmons Construction of Brookings for $2,835,903 for concrete pavement.

City Engineer Jackie Lanning explained the Phase I project will include full reconstruction of curb and gutter, widen the current roadway to have five 11-foot wide driving lanes, new 5-foot wide concrete sidewalk on one side of the street, 8-foot wide concrete shared-use path on the other side of the street, replacement of underground utilities, traffic signal upgrades and new street lighting.

“As you know, the current driving lane widths are very narrow, so this will be a very nice improvement,” Lanning said. “So it’s really a brand-new corridor which will tie in very nicely to Sixth Street.”

Bidders were allowed to bid on either concrete or asphalt or both pavement alternates. The city received two asphalt bids, ranging from $2.8 to $2.9 million, she said. The city received four bids for the concrete alternate with the low bid from Timmons Construction being $2,835,903. The other three bids ranged from $3.1 million to $3.4 million. The engineer’s estimate was $3.3 million.

Bids did fall within the project budget, which was $4.6 million, including engineering design and contingencies, Lanning said.

“Work will start as soon as frost is out of the ground – which we don’t know when that will be,” Lanning said, alluding to the snow currently on the ground. She estimated it might be late April or early May.

Nov. 1 is when she plans to have the project open to traffic. Final completion date is Nov. 29.

Councilor Ope Niemeyer asked Lanning to remind them where the 8-foot sidewalk will be.

The 8-foot sidewalk is on the west side of 22nd Avenue north of Third Street. Then the pedestrians cross Third Street in front of Brookings Health System, and then the 8-foot sidewalk will be on the east side of 22nd Avenue for the southern part of the project, Lanning said.

“We don’t have those included,” Lanning replied. “The concrete colored strip is so narrow between the back of curb and our sidewalk and there’s a lot of utilities under there.”

Vegetation needs underdrain, she added, but there’s a lot of utilities on both sides.

“We weren’t able to fit all that in,” Lanning said.

She’s hoping that as the project moves south, there will be more room to incorporate vegetation into the design.

Tilton Byrne said the vegetation issue was raised because there were concerns about water and where it can permeate. She wondered if that was considered.

“Just briefly during the design process,” Lanning said.

Councilor Mary Kidwiler asked what the plan was for diverting traffic.

“The road will be generally closed to through traffic. In the plans, we do have quite a traffic detour system set up,” Lanning said.

Eastbrook Drive and Sunrise Ridge Road will take detour traffic on the east side of the corridor. Third Street and 17th Avenue will be used for west-side traffic.

“So local traffic can still use the roadway system, but in general, we’ll be closing it. Much of that is due to the underground utilities because we have to install storm sewer and new watermain, … plus widen it all at the same time, so we do have detour traffic throughout the project,” Lanning said.

She is planning a kick-off meeting to which the public will be invited, so they can hear about the process and the timeline. The date has not been set yet, but she expects it to be set in a couple of weeks, after the contracts have been signed.

“All the public comment I’ve gotten is they’re excited for that to be done. I think we all are,” Mayor Keith Corbett said.